They had never said it, never confirmed with words what their actions had been screaming since they met. He loved her. There was no time to wonder at it, no time to soak it in and let happiness surge through her. She needed to go. And it was said less as a revelation than a reminder. As though she always knew he loved her and he was simply warning her to not be gone long, because he wanted her near. So when she whispered back to him, she said it not because he had, but because it had been simple fact and it was just now that she was putting voice to it.
"I love you, too," she said in a hushed voice. "Take care of her."
He nodded, his throat bobbing. The gun was heavy, cold against her skin as she tucked it into the waistband of her jeans. Her fingers dallied over it before tracing the outline of her mother's medal in her pocket. Someone shouted out to Larry. Kaylee pushed the hatch down into the silent hall and climbed down the ladder. She just saw, through the broken window, the horses turn as a group down the road.
Kaylee took off down the stairs to follow.
E. M. Fitch is an author who loves zombies, chocolate, and tall trees. When not dreaming up new ways to torture characters, she is usually corralling her four children or thinking of ways to tire them out so they she can get an hour of peace at night. She lives in Connecticut, surrounded by chaos, which she manages (somewhat successfully) with her husband, Marc. She has been published in Pulp Metal Magazine and the prequel to Loss of Light, Break Free the Night, is also available on
amazon.com
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You can find more about her works through her web site:
www.emfitch.com
or chat her up on Twitter @erinmfitch.
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